The man behind Seaman and the upcoming Odama already has plans for the DS.

Yoot Saito, creator of the innovative Sega Dreamcast title Seaman and the Gamecube's pinball war-strategy game Odama, apparently is a great admirer of Nintendo's dual-screened handheld. In an interview with NOE the game designer affirmed that his team (Vivarium) was greatly intrigued by the hardware and already had a project underway. Reproducing a specific quote:

NoE: Since the Nintendo DS has a built-in microphone, are you working on any DS titles at the moment? Or are there any plans for the future?

Yoot Saito: The Nintendo DS is a wonderful handheld. I'm glad it comes with a built-in microphone. That's why we have things planned for it. We're working on a different title right now that will use the network and microphone, but unfortunately I can't really discuss it yet...

Mr. Saito, a designer whose work Shigeru Miyamoto himself has professed to admire, is a great advocate of implementing voice interaction in his games. Seaman was an eerily responsive "virtual pet" style game where the player's speech would actually affect the creature's development and, later, it's responses to the player. The upcoming Odama will utilize the Cube's microphone to allow the player to command his troops amidst the giant rolling chaos that is the Odama/ball. It will be interesting to follow the progress of his team's next project, particularly with it's additional focus on WiFi network functionality. Stay tuned.